Fragments of freedom

How do we love freedom? Notes on the 25th anniversary of liberation.

1.

In "English Fragments" the German poet Heinrich Heine writes: "The Englishman loves freedom as his lawful wife. She is his property, even if he does not treat her with special kindness, but in case of danger he knows how to protect her like a man. The Frenchman loves freedom like the bride he has chosen for himself. He bows at his feet with irresistible oaths. He gives his life for it. To do thousands of nonsense. Germany loves freedom like its grandmother".

2.

How does the Kosovo Albanian love freedom, 25 years after the end of the war? It is not so clear yet. There are those who see freedom as a chance for anarchy. Or as an opportunity to restrict the freedom of another. Some see freedom as a dessert to be enjoyed on the way home, under the gaze of others. Most still value freedom. The lack of fear gives everyone the chance to choose what they want - even in the political market. This is the essential difference between democracy and dictatorship: in democracy, people give legitimacy to the government with their vote and will. In a dictatorship, the will of the rulers must be accepted by the citizens. Whoever does not accept it, ends up in prison. For a 25-year-old in Kosovo, this seems unimaginable today.

3.

It is equally unimaginable that 25 years after the war, history has not yet been written by competent, independent historians ready for a non-exclusive approach to the stormy developments that engulfed Kosovo, especially after 1989. 25 years after the war, the dilemma still seems unclear. : who liberated Kosovo? (Though things are crystal clear: peaceful resistance, armed insurrection, NATO intervention). 25 years after the war, propagandists of different political camps are fighting to ensure themselves "the right place in the table of history". 25 years after the war there is still an unbridled tendency to build myths and legends. 25 years after the war, there are still attempts to undo the other, to erase it from history. For what? This is a sign of desperation because a large part of Kosovo's citizens know well all the political protagonists. As much as he knows their merits (if they have any), he also knows their dark sides. 25 years after the war, the war is still a chapter for political clashes, political poems and muscle straining to chew history. When history is not written by historians, charlatans steal it. Today's question "who liberated Kosovo?" it is not set out to list the facts without bias, but to wage petty political power struggles. The past as a source of permanent strife for the future? This is not the solution, it should never be. Because we cannot change the past. Mistakes are not improved, nor heroics are exalted according to the electoral or populist mood. The only thing that can be done is: learning from both the bright and the dark sides of history. Learning lessons from history is not done through narcissistic obsessions.

4.

According to the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, whom some consider the greatest philosopher of the 20th century, "philosophy is a battle against the bewitchment of our mind by the tools of our language." The means of language are limitless. They can be used to say something constructive or to cry out from the digital throes of the pre-political underground. Virtue sometimes (even often!) is silence. This chance should not be missed, especially by those who in the last 25 years have said everything to build a memorial for themselves forever.

5.

Freedom means having the opportunity to seek your destiny without obstacles - on this planet, which at 107 kilometers per hour moves elliptically around the sun so far away. To be lucky, to be happy - is it possible? 

Epicurus, the Greek philosopher, was convinced that you are lucky and happy when you enjoy health and live in peace of mind, free from pain and free from fear. "He who does not suffer from hunger, who is not thirsty, who does not belch, can be compared to Zeus in terms of happiness". 

These words may sound banal. On June 10, 11 and 12, 1999 - 25 years ago, a quarter of a century - they sounded different. Tangible. Close ones. Terrifying. Because the word was added: freedom! In those days, something had begun that was the end of a horror that started in 1912. The grandchildren of those who had invaded Kosovo 87 years ago (a human life!), were now fleeing. 

In 2024 we can ask: what does freedom mean? For a 25-year-old, born in June 1999, freedom means: I went to Italy, the most beautiful country in the world. (The "standardized" language does not express this feeling of the Kosovar Albanian, so - I got into the car and went to Italy. And I returned home, as a free man, without fear of being mistreated by a Serbian policeman at the border with the most hated uniform in the world).

6.

"We want to be free like the birds in the sky, carefree and happy to fly through life". A tailor in Pejë, Gjakovë, Prizren, Mitrovica and Gjilan may have said this on June 12, 1999. The German tailor Wilhelm Weitling said it in 1842. And he put it as a motto in his book "Guarantees of harmony and freedom". 

The fear of risks is sometimes greater than the risks themselves. They (dangers!) were part of Albanians and Albanians in the 20th century. Those who risked, humbly deserve eternal honor. Generation after generation. Century after century. Fear has never been the right counselor to gain freedom. Freedom can never be a guide to fear. Who has learned to think, you can't take his freedom away from him and her! Let's learn to think even more. Or in short in Albanian: learn me, think me!